Good morning, Mendips! We’ve got a fresh Wells Cathedral exhibition announcement, a free Glastonbury health drop-in, the latest Shepton Mallet crime figures, and a jam-packed few days of gigs, fairs and living history across the patch — plus the strange true story behind Shepton’s threatened Amulet Theatre.
📅 Featured Event — Illyria's Pirates of Penzance sails into The Bishop's Palace
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Shepton crime figures · Wells Cathedral exhibition · Glastonbury health drop-in · plus two more
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📖 The Amulet's Secret — myth vs. fact on Shepton's threatened theatre
📆 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
AARRR! - ‘Tis Piracy at The Palace, m’ Heartys!
Tomorrow evening, The Bishop's Palace in Wells throws open its grounds for a good old-fashioned dose of outdoor theatre, as award-winning company Illyria brings Gilbert and Sullivan's comic classic The Pirates of Penzance to the lawns. Gates open at 5.45pm for a 6.30pm start, so there's time to get settled before the show.
The plot follows Frederick, a young pirate apprentice who discovers a legal loophole: because he was born on 29 February, he's technically only had four birthdays, and owes the Pirate King another 63 years of service. It's daft, witty stuff, played with full orchestral accompaniment by a six-strong cast, and the company promises the ‘razor sharp satire and glittering wit’ that's kept audiences coming back for over a century. Bring a chair and a picnic, and settle in for around two hours including a 20-minute interval — proceeds support the Palace Trust, and it's billed as suitable for all ages.
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🎨 Wells Cathedral To Host Major Contemporary Art Exhibition
Wells Art Contemporary returns to Wells Cathedral from 10 October to 7 November, filling the Cloisters and Cathedral with around 100 artworks and 20 site-specific installations responding to the theme ‘For what is time?’. Now a regular fixture since 2012, the exhibition draws thousands of international entries and offers cash prizes including the public-voted Chubb Bulleid Solicitors People's Prize.
🎟️ Glastonbury Festival Tickets Top £400 For First Time
Standard tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2027 will cost £408, a rise of £29.50 on this year's price, when general sales open on 4 October. It's the first time tickets for the Worthy Farm festival have broken the £400 barrier, continuing a steady climb in prices over the past decade.
🎸 Madchester Legends Inspiral Carpets Play Glastonbury Abbey
Inspiral Carpets, the Manchester band who helped define the ‘Madchester’ sound of the early 1990s alongside the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, bring their live show to the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey this Saturday. Best known for singles like ‘This Is How It Feels’ and ‘Saturn 5’, the band's atmospheric setting among centuries-old stonework promises a genuinely different night out.
🚛 South West Motorhome & Campervan Show Rolls Into Shepton Mallet
Hundreds of motorhomes, campervans and outdoor-living gadgets take over the Bath & West Showground this weekend for the three-day South West Motorhome & Campervan Show, running Friday to Sunday. It's a firm favourite with families weighing up their next adventure on wheels, with trade stands, demonstrations and advice from seasoned owners throughout.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
H
Hillary
The opposite of flattery.
Hindsight
Builder's cleavage.
Hippocampus
University for hippos.
Hispanic
Fear of snakes.
Hydrangea
A warning from Tonto.
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Ever Wondered How The Amulet Got Its Name?
Shepton Mallet's Amulet Theatre is having a moment. The brutalist 1975 venue, gifted by the Babycham-making Showering family, is back on the national Theatres at Risk Register at the highest risk score — but campaigners have just seen off a developer's bid to turn it into flats, with the Planning Inspectorate dismissing the appeal in June.
The Amulet Theatre
The community-led Let's Buy the Amulet group has raised over £128,000 from 300-plus local investors and reopened its share offer to anyone keen to help. So, while pop-up cinema and gigs trickle back onto the ground floor, it's worth asking: how did a Somerset theatre end up named after an amulet? The answer involves a Roman grave, an archbishop, and one of the great local hoaxes of the 1990s. Let's put this local “discovery” under the microscope.
In 1990, archaeologists excavating a Roman cemetery beside the Fosse Way at Fosse Lane uncovered around forty Roman citizens, buried facing east in the Christian manner and dated to the 4th century. Among the graves was something spectacular: a small silver amulet, its face punched with 69 tiny holes forming a Chi-Rho — the ancient monogram combining the Greek letters for “Christ” that Roman Christians wore to declare their faith.
Stylistically, it looked 5th century. If genuine, it was among the earliest physical evidence for Christianity anywhere in England.
The Amulet itself
Unsurprisingly, everyone got rather excited. A replica was presented to George Carey on his enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury, the local theatre rebranded itself The Amulet in its honour, and the real thing went on display at the Museum of Somerset.
Except one expert was suspicious from the start. Archaeologist Martin Henig thought the amulet looked like a crude copy of a genuine Chi-Rho brooch known from Sussex, matching its style a little too closely. Doubts rumbled on through the 1990s without becoming certainty, and the amulet stayed on display, its authenticity a polite unresolved question mark.
It took until 2008 to settle the matter. Scientists at Liverpool University ran the silver through spectrometry analysis and found the metal had been refined no earlier than the 19th century — far too modern for a 5th-century Roman burial. The amulet, in short, was a fake. A brilliant one, convincing enough to fool museums, archbishops and theatre owners alike, but a fake nonetheless.
Nobody has satisfactorily explained who made it, or why, or how it ended up among forty genuine Roman skeletons beside the Fosse Way. The bodies themselves are real and were reinterred locally in 1994. The amulet remains in the Museum of Somerset's collection — no longer billed as ancient, but as a fascinating puzzle in its own right. And the theatre named in its honour? Still fighting for its own second act, name and all.
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All week (10–14 September)
Wookey Uncovered — Wookey Hole. Premium small-group heritage tour of the caves with a Somerset cheese and cider tasting, running daily until 30 September. More info
Chilcompton Art Club Exhibition — South Cloisters, Wells Cathedral. Annual members' exhibition, on display until 16 September. More info
Open Afternoons at St Hugh's Church — Charterhouse on Mendip, 2pm. Drop-in heritage afternoons continue until 14 September. More info
The Songwriting Life – 6-Week Course — Glastonbury Abbey, 10am. Ongoing songwriting course running until 14 October. More info
Walk & Wine Thursday — Wells, 6pm, every Thursday. Guided walk finishing with a glass of wine, running weekly through the end of the year. More info
Thursday, 10 September
The Secret Supper Club at The Bishop's Table — 7.30pm, The Bishop's Palace, Wells. £45pp, booking essential. Book
Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Book
Ladies Mile: The Remarkable and Shocking Story of Twilight Bristol — 2.30pm, Glastonbury Town Hall. History talk. More info
Friday, 11 September
The Pirates of Penzance at The Bishop's Palace — Wells. See Featured Event above.
Glastonbury Tor Charter Fair — Glastonbury town centre, running through Sunday. One of Britain's longest-running fairs. More info
South West Motorhome & Campervan Show — Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, running through Sunday — see Hot News above. More info
Railway ‘Rev Up’ — 10am, Meare, nr Glastonbury, running through Sunday. More info
Glastonbury Tor-Nament 2026 — Glastonbury. More info
Overpower, Born In Dissonance Plus Guests — The King Arthur, Glastonbury. More info
POK & Friends — Glastonbury. More info
Flyte — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Book
Quiz Night — 8.30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. More info
Saturday, 12 September
Night at the Abbey — Glastonbury Abbey. Multi-stage music and light spectacular headlined by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and The Blow Monkeys. More info
History Alive: Vikings — 9.30am–5.30pm, The Bishop's Palace, Wells, running through Sunday. Living-history re-enactment weekend. More info
Inspiral Carpets in Glastonbury — Glastonbury Abbey. See Hot News above.
Autumn Wells Soup — 12.45pm, Wells Cathedral. Community crowdfunding dinner. More info
Sheppey Live Music: Riki Buckingham & Amir Mojazzer — 7.30pm, Wells. More info
Freesome (the music of Free & Bad Co) – Live At The Tree House — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Book
Mike Dawes — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Book
The Scorpios plus support — 8pm, The King Arthur, Glastonbury. More info
Ben Jordan — Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. More info
Pawsome Pooch at Clarks Village — Street, running through Sunday. Dog-friendly weekend of activities. More info
The Bumpy Roads Barn Dance — Ashcott Village Hall. Book
Sunday, 13 September
Frome Record Fair — 9am, Cheese & Grain, Frome. More info
The Wonder of Stevie — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Book
Battle of Britain Commemoration Service 2026 — Street Methodist Church. More info
Plus the last day of History Alive: Vikings, Pawsome Pooch, Glastonbury Tor Charter Fair and Railway ‘Rev Up’ — see Friday and Saturday, above.
Monday, 14 September
A quieter day on the calendar — but Wookey Uncovered, the Chilcompton Art Club Exhibition and The Songwriting Life course are all still running (see All week, above).
🗓️ Coming Up
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Pressure [12A] — Wed & Thu only this week
The Dog Stars [15] — Wed & Thu only this week
Mutiny [15] — Wed & Thu only this week
Spa Weekend [15] (TM) — Wed & Thu only this week
The End Of Oak Street [12A] (TM) — Wed & Thu only this week
New listings start Friday — check the link below for the full week ahead.
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 10 September
A typical early-autumn mix this week — expect a blend of sunny spells and cloud, with temperatures in the high teens, and a chance of a passing shower moving through mid-week. Best bets for staying dry look to be Thursday and the weekend, so plan outdoor plans accordingly.
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Contact Mendy the Mendiplodocus
Paul Branston, Editor
Hi, I'm Paul Branston and I publish the Mendiplodocus every morning, Monday to Saturday. Each issue goes out to a growing base of thousands of local residents who want to keep up to date with events and local news. If you have events or news to share or you have a local business to promote, please get in touch.
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